Measuring machines for determining the deviations of the actual position of a track section with respect to the desired position thereof are described in the publication "ETR-Eisenbahntechn. Rundschau" ("ETR-Railway Review") 39 (1990), number 4, pages 202 and 203. A laser beam is used as the reference chord between a measuring unit placed at a reference point and referred to as the satellite vehicle and a further measuring unit moving continuously towards it and referred to as the measuring vehicle. The versines on the laser reference chord are measured, digitalized and stored in a computer. By additionally measuring the lateral distances away from the reference points, the differences from the desired position can be determined and the displacements and lifts to be implemented can be calculated, these being intended to serve as input data for the ALC control computer of tamping machines. Because the reference chord is necessarily produced in the form of a laser beam, the distance between the satellite- and the measuring vehicle is restricted in view of the required scanning of the laser beam by a laser receiver.
Determining the reference points of a track by means of a satellite receiver is already known through the publication "Railway Track and Structures", May 1990 page 21. This GBS (Global Positioning System) satellite receiver processes the position signals from surveying satellites and is located in a two-way vehicle which is moved on the track to the individual reference points to be measured.
It is an object of the present invention to determine displacement between an actual track position and a desired (i.e., ideal) track position.
More precisely, the object of the present invention lies in the creation of a method of the type described in the introduction and of a device for implementing the method, with which, for more economic operation, the two measuring units can be spaced further apart from one another, with a high degree of accuracy of the correction values obtained.